3 ms·
Many people don't use banking services at all. It's pretty common to cash a paycheck and then manage a weekly or monthly budget by dividing up the cash into "a
by stvswn 10y ago
Many people don't use banking services at all. It's pretty common to cash a paycheck and then manage a weekly or monthly budget by dividing up the cash into "accounts" -- put this much aside for rent, this goes away into my rainy day stash, this is what I'll use for groceries, etc. People do it for many reasons, but usually it's a combination of bad credit, distrust of banks, or distrust of themselves if they take advantage of credit. It could also be that it's unreported income, of course. So, with this product, Amazon gives cash-first or cash-only people a way to buy things online.
- stvswn 10y agoJust occurred to me after seeing the other comments that this use case was already supported by gift cards.
- grumblestumble 10y agothis is supposedly no-fee, at least for now. gift cards are quite the scam, i think the standard is a $4.99 fee for cards under $100.
- V99 10y agoGeneral purpose visa/mastercard gift cards yes, but single-company gift cards just cost face-value (or sometimes slightly discounted at places like Sam's). And some of the participating stores like CVS already sell Amazon gift cards.
- stronglikedan 10y agoI think you may be thinking of Amex and Visa gift cards. AFAIK, those are the only ones that charge any sort of fee. Amazon, and other retailers, eTailers, restaurants, etc., generally don't have a fee to buy or maintain, and funds never expire.